add brad richards
keep wolski
add an affordable puck moving dman via free agency
keep ftank
look for one of vtank or ktek to make the team as 7th dman.
hope like hell mdz finds himself and has a solid camp

add brad richards
keep wolski
add an affordable puck moving dman via free agency
keep ftank
look for one of vtank or ktek to make the team as 7th dman.
hope like hell mdz finds himself and has a solid camp

add brad richards
keep wolski
add an affordable puck moving dman via free agency
keep ftank
look for one of vtank or ktek to make the team as 7th dman.
hope like hell mdz finds himself and has a solid camp

I'd swap Stepan and Arty to keep Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan together. Also, Kreider- Stepan - Hagelin would be a great 2-way, fast, smart, young, NCAA line that would definitely be a real treat to watch.

$7m cap hit for no production or $3.6m cap hit for no production. How is there even a debate?

Because unlike the short-minded thinking that allows people to only consider the next season, some of us are focused on the fact that part of that hit will be left over for 2012-13 when the team's youth will mature and the overall team will be in much better shape to contend by acquiring a player via trade or free agency then.

Because unlike the short-minded thinking that allows people to only consider the next season, some of us are focused on the fact that part of that hit will be left over for 2012-13 when the team's youth will mature and the overall team will be in much better shape to contend by acquiring a player via trade or free agency then.

Ignoring my disagreement with you about our window to contend, $1.7m of lost space in 2012-2013 (when Avery is also off the cap, saving $2m) is a much smaller problem than Drury at $7m on the cap in 2011-2012.

Because unlike the short-minded thinking that allows people to only consider the next season, some of us are focused on the fact that part of that hit will be left over for 2012-13 when the team's youth will mature and the overall team will be in much better shape to contend by acquiring a player via trade or free agency then.

So what's the big deal about some cap hits affecting that season? All of our key RFA's will be re-signed this summer... Cap keeps going up as NHL revenues continue to be healthy.

What is your Plan A anyway? You keep criticizing what others are suggesting, but what is your plan? Other than taking the season off.

Have you acknowledged the less than desirable free agent list for the 2012 summer?

Which players on that list present a better option than pursuing Richards this season? You mentioned a trade.... What players do you anticipate will be available to be traded for and at what price to our current depth chart?

Stepan and AA may never develop into 1st line Center material.... And on the whim that one of them does, that process make take 3-5 years of development. Rangers can't sit around crossing their fingers that certain inexperienced players will mature into crucial roles to fill big holes on our roster. Our goaltender is ready to compete now...

you're proposing dumping more than a third of our NHL lineup in one season. Sounds good in theory but c'mon. there is no way to realistically turn this team into a contender in the short term.

Granted it's a lot of turnover, but look at the players we are eliminating. Not really core components.

And with step, sauer and mcd playing so well as rooks, I'm not afraid to plug in kreider, hagelin or even a vtank or i mean even a grachev could make an appearance.

IMO, young doesn't have to mean not prepared to contribute. Getting younger isn't always a negative if you are getting younger and more talented.

An argument could be made that without step, saucer and mcd, we don't make the playoffs this year. If true, I'm not afraid to plug into the lineup more youth. Heck, dub, cally, staal and girardi are vets now.

Because unlike the short-minded thinking that allows people to only consider the next season, some of us are focused on the fact that part of that hit will be left over for 2012-13 when the team's youth will mature and the overall team will be in much better shape to contend by acquiring a player via trade or free agency then.

In the second year of the buy-outs drury's and wolski's boy-out will total a combined roughly just over 2 million dollars. I will take 2 mill. in dead weight to have drury and wolski off this team and add brad richards everyday of the week and 7 times on sunday.

I'm inclined to agree...FOR NEXT YEAR. But Richards won't be signing a 1 year contract. You have to add pieces when you can and when they make sense. Adding him this summer improves the team and puts us closer to the goal. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will this team.

Except that by future years, 1) Brad will likely age and get worse; and 2) we don't know what to expect and we can't predict what our needs will be.

I am not convinced Stepan won't be a #1 center whereas Gabby will be retired. We don't know what our needs will be in 2012-13 or 2013-14.

The worst part of the shot-ranged thinking from some people here is when they are calling for the signing of an offensive defenseman. How exactly do we know that MDZ will be a bust? He may be, but is this really the time to acquire his replacement? Is this really the time to spend cap space and/or assets on a QB?

Same is true for a center. With Stepan playing so well at this age, how exactly do we know that a year from now, we'll still think that we need to pay through the nose to acquire an overpaid UFA center? Why not wait?

Almost every year there is a guy like Thornton, Heatley, Jagr, etc available relatively inexpensively through trade, certainly a better way to acquire someone this way than paying an extra several million a year and giving a few extra years to an aging UFA the long-term need for whom is questionable.

Rangers had Todd White on the roster this season for a $1,059,812 cap hit. Buying out Avery and Wolski is a $1,070,833 cap hit in 11-12 and $1,333,333 in 12-13. Hardly cap busting numbers. Wolski has a 1/3 buyout and with Avery claimed on re-entry waivers,his buyout is a 1/3.

Torts is going to have Wolski and Avery splitting time between being a healthy scratch and playing eight minutes per game.

I'd swap Stepan and Arty to keep Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan together. Also, Kreider- Stepan - Hagelin would be a great 2-way, fast, smart, young, NCAA line that would definitely be a real treat to watch.

I like that better. Agree on both lines.

One thing is for sure, there's a ton of speed and skill and inexperience on those 4 lines.

Ok, so tell us. Who do we start anew with? You're banking on big name UFA's becoming available which is probably worse than buying out Drury and signing Richards.

We have no way of knowing who will be available in the future to start "anew" with.

The lack of knowledge is not reason to act, just the opposite. We have an excellent group of young players and prospects. Let them mature another 1-2 years. Then you can acquire someone if necessary. Like I said before, there are usually players who can be acquired.

Sigh... Pay closer attention to the facts... You're calling Richards overpaid, do you even realize his current contract was established pre-lockout?

How long do you think the Rangers should wait around for Stepan to develop into a #1 Center.... 2 years, 3 years, 4 years? What about the rest of the team? You think we're going to be able to afford the contracts of all our current players 3-4 years out from now after they've become free agents? Do you think Lundqvist is going to stick around if a couple years from now, we're still going no where in the playoffs with no certified top line and no playoff success?

The Thornton, Jagr, Heatley trades are few and far between... I can't believe you're using them to bolster your argument like these players can just fall into your lap, while claiming Brad Richards is going to be old and overpaid 1 season from now. Richards doesn't cost us anything but cap space. As long as there's no NMC's handed out during the latter years, it's no issue whatsoever....

Quote:

Originally Posted by RangerEsq

The lack of knowledge is not reason to act, just the opposite. We have an excellent group of young players and prospects. Let them mature another 1-2 years. Then you can acquire someone if necessary. Like I said before, there are usually players who can be acquired.

Name some hypothetical situations.... Doesn't sound very convincing. You're going to lose some of those 'excellent young players' trying to acquire these hypothetical players that might be available.

Ignoring my disagreement with you about our window to contend, $1.7m of lost space in 2012-2013 (when Avery is also off the cap, saving $2m) is a much smaller problem than Drury at $7m on the cap in 2011-2012.

So what? First off, half of Drury's hit will still be on the books in 2011-12. Second, I don't care. Next year will not allow us to succeed no matter who we sign. Unless MDZ and Step suddenly become Zubov and Oates, we ain't contending next year. So what's the difference?

Sigh... Pay closer attention to the facts... You're calling Richards overpaid, do you even realize his current contract was established pre-lockout?

But his next contract will not be pre-lockout. It will be the same monstrocity as all the other players who were the top UFAs in their offseason: Brian Campbell, Chris Drury, etc. That Brad is superior than Campbell, Drury, etc will just make him that much more overpaid. It's not as if Brad will get Drury money. He'll get several million more. Not only will he get more money, but as a superior player, he'll get overpaid by even more.

A $5 million player gets $7 million on the UFA market, meaning he's overpaid by $2. A $6 million player will get $8.5, meaning he's overpaid by $2.5. The better the player, the more overpaid he is on the UFA market.

Nobody ever learns from anything. Every single summer, fans expect UFAs to get RFA contracts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfgaze

How long do you think the Rangers should wait around for Stepan to develop into a #1 Center

More than his (successful) rookie season. Again, if I thought that a #1 center brings us the Cup, I'm all for it. But it's not as if we are waiting when we could be winning. The difference between Brad and no Brad will be losing in the first round vs. losing in the second round (or maybe not even). It will not be enough to get us into the Finals, much less to win the Cup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfgaze

The Thornton, Jagr, Heatley trades are few and far between... I can't believe you're using them to bolster your argument like these players can just fall into your lap, while claiming Brad Richards is going to be old and overpaid 1 season from now. Richards doesn't cost us anything but cap space. As long as there's no NMC's handed out during the latter years, it's no issue whatsoever....

And precisely because Richards won't cost anything but cap space, teams all around the league will be trying to get him. Do you think you are the only one smart enough to recognize that it's better to lose cap space than assets?

As for other players who might be available: 1) we may or may not need them; 2) they may become available; 3) what if Brad is not our need? Please try to focus here because everyone ignores it. What if we don't need a center? What if our need will be a wing or a defenseman? If by the time our youth matures and we are one winger away from contending, how exactly is being tied up to the overpaid Brad contract help us with the shortage of wingers?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfgaze

Name some hypothetical situations.... Doesn't sound very convincing. You're going to lose some of those 'excellent young players' trying to acquire these hypothetical players that might be available.

Ok, but at least I will be acquiring someone I know I need. Whether it's a center or a winger or a defenseman, a skilled player or a tough guy, a penalty killer or a quarterback.

Right now we are acquiring a player based on our present need... except even by filling this need, we are going nowhere. And we don't know what our future needs will be.